ANTWERP/WASHINGTON, October 19, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)
Roberto Bautista Agut reached his 23rd ATP Tour final — and first since Adelaide-2 in January 2023 — with a steady, strong and complete semifinal performance over No. 77 Hugo Gaston at the European Open Saturday.
The 60th-ranked Bautista Agut became the first Spaniard to reach the Antwerp title match after defeating the Frenchman Gaston, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 28 minutes on Centre Court inside sold-out Lotto Arena.
Powering through
@BautistaAgut wins his semi final 6-3 6-4 and is our first finalist for the European Open 2024 #EuropeanOpen #ATPTour #Tennis pic.twitter.com/ByEV1DR2Gb
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 19, 2024
Gaston, who upset World No. 9 and top seed Alex de Minaur of Australia for his first Top-10 victory in Friday’s quarterfinal round, was unable to break Bautista Agut’s serve — the Spaniard faced no break points the entire match — and he was undone by a break of his serve in each set. Plus, he made 30 unforced errors. Instead, it was Bautista Agut celebrating his semifinal win, in which he hit 21 winners and outpointed his opponent 65-53.
At 36, Bautista Agut becomes the third-oldest different finalist in 2024, behind Rafael Nadal (38) and Novak Djokovic (37).
“Today was a very good match [for me],” Bautista Agut said. “[Hugo] is very talented. He knows how to return well. I was very focused. I played a complete match and I’m very happy to be in the final.”
Clinical @BautistaAgut defeats Gaston 6-3 6-4 to reach the Antwerp final #EuropeanOpen pic.twitter.com/4131oXt5fC
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 19, 2024
Bautista’s triumph, which improved his record to 23-19, ensures a return to the Top 50 next week for the first time in 12 months.
Lehecka halts Giron run, reaches third ATP Tour final
In Sunday’s final, the unseeded Bautista Agut, will face No. 5 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, ranked 33rd, who defeated the 47th-ranked No. 8 seed Marcos Giron of the United States, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, in one hour and 56 minutes.
Lehecka hit 33 winners and converted three of six break points against Giron and outpointed him 92-78. He’s through to his third ATP Tour final and first indoors. The 22-year-old is the first Czech since Tomas Berdych in 2015 at Stockholm to reach an indoor final.
Final bound
@jirilehecka overcomes Giron 6-3 4-6 6-2 for a place in the final #EuropeanOpen #ATPTour #Tennis pic.twitter.com/2Sbu3i0JKU
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 19, 2024
“All the best to Marcos, he played incredible tennis, especially in the second set,” Lehecka said during his on-court interview. “A few times I was speechless with what he was able to produce, so I’m very happy with the win, so happy to be through and today it was a hard-fought battle.
“After the second set, when I thought I wasn’t playing bad but he was just playing incredible from the back of the baseline, I knew I had to use every chance I had to push forward and to be aggressive. His second serve was the only chance I had to do it, so I tried to use that and it worked well.”
Around the European Open
Unseeded Robert Galloway of the United States and Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan advanced to the European Open final with a 6-2, 6-3 win over unseeded Robin Haase and David Pel of the Netherlands in one hour on Centre Court.
The American/Kazakh duo saved all 13 break points they faced while breaking the Dutch pair four times in seven chances. They outpointed their opponents 59-44.
In Sunday’s title match, Galloway and Nedovyesov, whom are playing together for the first time as a team, will play unseeded Austrian duo Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler.
Cruising through to the final
@RGalloway35 & A. Nedovyesov win 6-2 6-3 and will meet @miedler21 & A. Erler in the final #EuropeanOpen #ATPTour #Doubles pic.twitter.com/pv2keA0xX2
— European Open (@EuroTennisOpen) October 19, 2024
Saturday’s European Open results
Sunday’s European Open order of play
By the numbers
Hugo Gaston attempted to be the sixth Frenchman to reach the European Open final in the nine editions of the Antwerp event, following Richard Gasquet (2016), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2017), Gaël Monfils (2018), Ugo Humbert (2020) Arthur Fils (2023).
“Quotable …”
“Normally, such a situation only motivates me. I wasn’t extra nervous and I felt isolated even better than [Thursday]. I am satisfied with my week here, Imhave taken the right steps and we have to build on this. We are going to analyze this match calmly and see what needs to be improved.” (Translated from Dutch.)
— No. 69 Zizou Bergs of Belgium, during his post-match news conference Friday, following his quarterfinal loss to No. 8 seed Marcos Giron.
